Isaac M. O'Bannon is the managing editor and digital content manager for CPA Practice Advisor (www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com), drawing on two decades of experience covering the areas of professional accounting, taxation, business productivity and consumer technologies.
Prior to CPA Practice Advisor, O'Bannon was a consultant at firms in San Francisco, Denver and Tulsa, serving clients that included Logitech, Polycom, Hilti, Microsoft, the Stanford Research Institute, the University of Oklahoma's College of Engineering and other technology leaders. He is a U.S. Navy veteran.
Email: isaac.obannon - @ - cpapracticeadvisor.com
October 6, 2011
800-765-7777 www.lacertesoftware.com 2011 Overall Rating 4.5 Best Fit Lacerte Tax Planner can be used as a stand-alone program, but it’s best suited for firms using the Lacerte tax preparation system, providing simple data transfer and a familiar interface. Strengths Familiar tabbed interface & navigation Full integration with Lacerte 1040 Integration with Document Management System...…
October 6, 2011
800-968-8900 www.cs.thomsonreuters.com 2011 Overall Rating 4.75 Best Fit With tight integration among the tax preparation, research, document management, portals and other solutions from Thomson Reuters, Planner CS is best suited to users of the vendor’s CS Professional Suite, but can also be valuable as a stand-alone system. Strengths Includes tax code for federal &...…
October 6, 2011
800-424-2938 www.bnasoftware.com 2011 Overall Rating 5 Best Fit Practices offering individual income tax planning services to clients with varying needs, up to and including high net worth individuals with significantly complex income channels and assets. Strengths Intuitive interface & navigation Comprehensive tax calculations & analyses Up to 20 side-by-side comparisons Excellent reporting & graphical...…
October 6, 2011
800-739-9998 www.cchgroup.com 2011 Overall Rating 4.25 Best Fit Full-service accounting professionals using the integrated ProSystem fx Suite to serve broad client bases. Strengths Excellent integration with ProSystem fx Tax & Engagement Up to 30 side-by-side cases Ease-of-use Potential Limitations Plans limited to four years of projections Aside from exporting into other...…
October 5, 2011
Every year around this time I receive a variety of demo gadgets and information on technologies that span the spectrum of being useful for business, as well as those geared toward personal entertainment, hobbies and sometimes just peculiar things. I include them in our annual Holiday Gift Guide, which runs in our December issue and...…
October 5, 2011
800-230-2322 www.taxworks.com 2011 Overall Rating 4 Best Fit Firms using TaxWorks who want to expand into tax planning as a client service offering, or want a simple add-on tool for performing quick projections. Strengths Easy to use Adjustable inflation projection Inexpensive Integration with TaxWorks Potential Limitations Generally basic planning capabilities Limited report customization...…
October 5, 2011
800-230-2322 www.DrakeSoftware.com While most other tax software developers offer tax planning for an additional annual fee, Drake Software has gone with an all-inclusive approach to its entire professional tax compliance suite. The suite provides 1040, 1040NR, 1041, 1065, 1120, 1120S, 706, 709, 990 and 990PF preparation, support for all states with income taxes, and unlimited...…
October 3, 2011
I’m not exactly sure how this will directly affect professionals in the near-term, but Japanese scientists have developed a digital key system that works similarly to the Nintendo Wii and Xbox. The technology, which they say is less than two years from commercial distribution, would allow people to make simple hand gestures, which the system would...…
October 1, 2011
The iPad has been on the market for less than two years (delivery of the iPad1 started in March 2010), but ever since Apple essentially invented the market for tablet devices, competitors have been trying to edge their way into the market. The most notable true competitors have been the Samsung Galaxy, HP TouchPad, Motorola...…
September 27, 2011
800-507-1992 www.realtaxtools.com W2 Mate, which is offered by Real Business Solutions, is a multi-employer year-end form preparation and filing system with support for forms W-2s, and most common forms 1099 and 1098, as well as transmittal forms W-3 and 1096. The program, which can be installed on workstations or networked servers, can be used either...…
September 16, 2011
I was surprised recently by the findings of a study that looked at how today’s college students are using the internet for research (http://tinyurl.com/3hhvv2u). Perhaps “misusing,” would be a better term. It seems that this current generation, for whom the internet has existed for all of their lives, don’t really know much about it....…
September 14, 2011
800-375-9542 www.ATXinc.com www.TaxWise.com 2011 Overall Rating 4.5 Best Fit Small and mid-sized tax and accounting practices seeking to broaden their client services by offering year-end compliance, particularly those using solutions from CCH Small Firm Services for tax preparation and write-up. Strengths Integration with professional tax package. Strong federal & state support, including e-filing. Library...…
